Friday

Fazil Bey Kahvesi: Fad Proof

Two young men stood about 15 feet apart on a sunny narrow street in the Kadikoy market, chafing in their brown lab coats. The one tending to a handful of white marble tables barked “buyrun!” (roughly, “come and get it!”) at passersby, the other quietly wiped down seven or eight black marble tables.

The black tables – the ones in front of the veteran Fazil Bey Kahvesi – used to be white until they were replaced when a gaggle of upstart neighboring cafes put out their own white tables, presumably hoping to siphon off some of Fazil Bey’s business. Next door is Yavuz Bey and next to that Hurrem Efendi and just across the street Niyazi Bey, all serving Turkish coffee and seating customers at the same white marble tables. Buyrun!

In Istanbul, fads burn white hot and competition can be comically ruthless. Be it coffee or mojitos, you’ll see butcher shops, bookstores and pharmacies retrofitted overnight to capitalize on the latest popular trend. We even know one (now former) barber, Suleyman, who recently hung up his shears, donned a fez and turned his barbershop into place to squeeze and sell fruit juice. Continue…